Sport brief

26th Apr 2013

Athletics

Olympic legend Michael Johnson has warned Mo Farah he risks ruining his reputation by running only half the London Marathon for a monster pay-off believed to be £750,000. Farah, will be one of the biggest names at the Marathon but he will only compete half the course as part of a bumper pay packet from sponsors. Johnson believes the cash-driven decision to run the race could alienate him from his fans.

Boxing

Haroon Khan (right) has vowed to learn from his older brother Amir’s mistakes

Ahead of his professional debut in Sheffield on April 27, Haroon Khan has vowed to avoid making the same mistakes as his older brother Amir’s career.

Former world champ Amir has lost on three times as a pro, most memorably inside the opening round to Breidis Prescott in Sept 2008 and Haroon, scheduled to appear on the undercard of his brother’s fight against Julio Diaz at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena, is adamant he is not about to be so gung-ho.

“You have to be more cautious as a professional,” Haroon said. “The crowd hypes you up and once you hear that crowd you want to knock the guy out.

“Against Breidis Prescott [when Amir was knocked out after 54 seconds] Amir wanted to go out there and knock him out and he made a mistake.

“And when he went down the first time he got up and started trading again. That’s one thing I’ve learned: if you go down, don’t get up and start trading punches, stay on the back foot.”

“We’ve learned a lot from Amir’s career and hopefully we’re not going to make the same mistakes.”

Cricket

Misbah-ul-Haq Mohammad Hafeez have dismissed reports of a rift

Pakistan’s Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Twenty20 skipper Mohammad Hafeez have dismissed reports of a rift, saying the rumours are damaging the team.

Misbah denied reports on his return from South Africa where Pakistan lost 3-0 in Tests and were edged out 3-2 in the one-day series, defeats blamed on the rift.

But former chair of Pakistan Cricket Board, Ijaz Butt, reignited the row on April 9, alleging Hafeez and the head coach Dave Whatmore had left Misbah sidelined.

Hosts Galatasaray produced a stirring second half to win but Madrid held on to reach the semi-final thanks to their first-leg victory.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s early goal appeared to have doused any chance of a home comeback, extending Madrid’s aggregate lead to 4-0, but Fatih Terim’s team made a fight of it in a thrilling second half when Emmanuel Eboué, Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba all scored. However Ronaldo’s late second goal ensured a 5-3 aggregate win – a direct repeat of the 2001 quarter-final encounter.

Arsène Wenger was forced to sell me to Man City, says Samir Nasri

Samir Nasri has claimed Arsène Wenger was forced to sell him to Man City in 2011 by the club’s owner, Stan Kroenke.

His claim directly contradicts the Arsenal manager’s repeated stance that he is in sole control of transfers. “Wenger told me that, if Cesc [Fàbregas] left, I’d stay but Kroenke wanted the money. The coach told me we’ll only take Gervinho, Cesc was already gone, I had only one year left so I decided to leave,” Nasri said.

Hockey

Pakistan will face tough fight from a rising Malaysian hockey team as the teams have been placed in Pool A with Japan and Chinese Taipei in the Men’s Asia Cup, which will start on August in Malaysia.

Pakistan ranked No 5 in the world will have to improve on their performance at the Azlan Shah Cup where they finished last while Malaysia ranked No 13 only just lost the final to world No 2 Australia.

Pool ‘B’ includes Korea, India, Oman and Bangladesh.

Motorsport

FIA President Jean Todt has no regrets about ensuring the Bahrain Grand Prix went ahead despite unrest in the country

Jean Todt, the head of Formula One’s governing body, did not attend the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix but officials played down on April 17 the significance of his absence.

However the Frenchman has written to rights groups to express the International Automobile Federation’s “firm belief” that the race is a force for good.

In the letter, he explained that “sport, and the F1 Grand Prix, can have a positive and healing effect in situations where conflict, social unrest and tensions are causing distress”.

The letter was in response to one from four Bahraini groups, who had urged Todt to cancel the race because of the unrest in the country, and arrests and jailing of anti-government activists.

Squash

Northern Ontario Open: Ontario, Canada (April 3-6):

Marwan El Shorbagy defeated Briton Chris Simpson 3-0, becoming the first Egyptian to hold the title. The world junior champ won his first trophy since July.

Bernard Tomic clinched victory over Uzbekistan to earn Australia another shot at returning to the competition’s top tier.

Tomic defeated Uzbek No1 Denis Istomin in the opening reverse singles on clay to give Australia a 3-1 victory. It capped a strong team effort and a happy to return to the team for Tomic, who also beat Farrukh Dustov on April 5 to get Australia off to a strong start.

Tomic took advantage of a tiring Istomin, who was playing for the third straight day. Istomin claimed a tight first set but Tomic stamped his authority.

Sania Mirza has also joined Indian Tennis Players Association as one of its Vice Presidents, it was revealed on April 14.

Sania is now one of the four Vice Presidents of the newly-formed body with Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Somdev Devvarman being the other VPs.

Wrestling

US wrestlers will take on Iran and Russia in New York’s Grand Central Terminal as the wrestling community tries to promote the sport.

The May 15 event will include the US men’s freestyle team facing Iran, while US men and women freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers will face Russia.

Athletics

Olympic legend Michael Johnson has warned Mo Farah he risks ruining his reputation by running only half the London Marathon for a monster pay-off believed to be £750,000. Farah, will be one of the biggest names at the Marathon but he will only compete half the course as part of a bumper pay packet from sponsors. Johnson believes the cash-driven decision to run the race could alienate him from his fans.

Boxing

Haroon Khan(right) has vowed to learn from his older brother Amir’s mistakes

Ahead of his professional debut in Sheffield on April 27, Haroon Khan has vowed to avoid making the same mistakes as his older brother Amir’scareer.

Former world champ Amir has lost on three times as apro, most memorably inside the opening round to Breidis Prescott in Sept 2008 and Haroon, scheduled to appear on the undercard of his brother’s fight against Julio Diaz at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena, is adamant he is not about to be so gung-ho.

“You have to be more cautious as a professional,” Haroon said. “The crowd hypes you up and once you hear that crowd you want to knock the guy out.

“Against Breidis Prescott [when Amir was knocked out after 54 seconds] Amir wanted to go out there and knock him out and he made a mistake.

“And when he went down the first time he got up and started trading again. That’s one thing I’ve learned: if you go down, don’t get up and start trading punches, stay on the back foot.”

“We’ve learned a lot from Amir’s career and hopefully we’re not going to make the same mistakes.”

Cricket

Misbah-ul-Haq Mohammad Hafeez have dismissed reports of a rift

Pakistan’s Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Twenty20 skipper Mohammad Hafeez have dismissed reports of a rift, saying the rumours are damaging the team.

Misbah denied reports on his return from South Africa where Pakistan lost 3-0 in Tests and were edged out 3-2 in the one-day series, defeats blamed on the rift.

But former chair of Pakistan Cricket Board, Ijaz Butt, reignited the row on April 9, alleging Hafeez and the head coach Dave Whatmore had left Misbah sidelined.

Hosts Galatasaray produced a stirring second half to win but Madrid held on to reach the semi-final thanks to their first-leg victory.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s early goal appeared to have doused any chance of a home comeback, extending Madrid’s aggregate lead to 4-0, but Fatih Terim’s team made a fight of it in a thrilling second half when Emmanuel Eboué, Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba all scored. However Ronaldo’s late second goal ensured a 5-3 aggregate win – a direct repeat of the 2001 quarter-final encounter.

Arsène Wenger was forced to sell me to Man City, says Samir Nasri

Samir Nasri has claimed Arsène Wenger was forced to sell him to Man City in 2011 by the club’s owner, Stan Kroenke.

His claim directly contradicts the Arsenal manager’s repeated stance that he is in sole control of transfers. “Wenger told me that, if Cesc [Fàbregas] left, I’d stay but Kroenke wanted the money. The coach told me we’ll only take Gervinho, Cesc was already gone, I had only one year left so I decided to leave,” Nasri said.

Hockey

Pakistan will face tough fight from a rising Malaysian hockey team as the teams have been placed in Pool A with Japan and Chinese Taipei in the Men’s Asia Cup, which will start on August in Malaysia.

Pakistan ranked No 5 in the world will have to improve on their performance at the Azlan Shah Cup where they finished last while Malaysia ranked No 13 only just lost the final to world No 2 Australia.

Pool ‘B’ includes Korea, India, Oman and Bangladesh.

Motorsport

FIA President Jean Todt has no regrets about ensuring the Bahrain Grand Prix went ahead despite unrest in the country

Jean Todt, the head of Formula One’s governing body, did not attend the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix but officials played down on April 17 the significance of his absence.

However the Frenchman has written to rights groups to express the International Automobile Federation’s “firm belief” that the race is a force for good.

In the letter, he explained that “sport, and the F1 Grand Prix, can have a positive and healing effect in situations where conflict, social unrest and tensions are causing distress”.

The letter was in response to one from four Bahraini groups, who had urged Todt to cancel the race because of the unrest in the country, and arrests and jailing of anti-government activists.

Squash

Northern Ontario Open: Ontario, Canada (April 3-6):

Marwan El Shorbagy defeated Briton Chris Simpson 3-0, becoming the first Egyptian to hold the title. The world junior champ won his first trophy since July.

Bernard Tomic clinched victory over Uzbekistan to earn Australia another shot at returning to the competition’s top tier.

Tomic defeated Uzbek No1 Denis Istomin in the opening reverse singles on clay to give Australia a 3-1 victory. It capped a strong team effort and a happy to return to the team for Tomic, who also beat Farrukh Dustov on April 5 to get Australia off to a strong start.

Tomic took advantage of a tiring Istomin, who was playing for the third straight day. Istomin claimed a tight first set but Tomic stamped his authority.

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